Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

MOTOCROSS Round 11: Broome-Tioga Sports Center AMAIMAIDA TRUCK NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP 250cc MX SERIES f,::--- - - - - - - - - - -- - -- - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - . J ."W hen we pulled in, it just look ed g re a t," sai d the Yamah a pilot, w h o brought close to 100 fa mily members and friends along with him . "It's really loamy and fun to ride on, an d I want to thank Tom Hurd a nd cr ew for d oin g such a great job in ge tting it read y for us." By Davey Coombs Photos by Kinney Jones B'IIGHAMTON, NY, AUG. 30 L he seco n d co meback of Dou g Hen ry 's storybook raci ng caree r reached a high point on Sunday wh en t he p opul ar New En g la nd er clinched the 1998 AL\1.A 250cc ationa l Motocross Cha m pio nship wi th a win at Bro ome-T ioga Sp orts Center in Bing ham ton . Wi th a huge partisan crowd ch eeri ng h is every mo ve , H enry clinched the title with a 1-4 sco re for the ove rall win. "This is just the greatest feeling in the world, co mi ng here a n d w innin g the cham pionship in front of so man y peo ple that I kn ow and prett y much grew up with," said Henry, wh o was raised one state over in O xford, Connecti cut. "T his is also the las t sea son th at Pe te (Steinbrecher) and [ wi ll work together, becau se he' s re tiri ng. I am so sto ked tha t we co u ld w in a champions h ip aga in togeth er." Henry a nd Stei nbrecher previou sly wo n a pair of 125cc Na tional MX Cha mpion ships and a 125cc East Region title T g:j a ~ ~ o 6 for Hond a. In the yea rs between titles, Henry su ffe re d a bro ken back in one notori ous crash a t th e Budd s C reek Na tional and two broken arms in anot her, missin g the better pa rt of tw o yea rs w it h th ose in juries. Now h e is in the record boo~ as the only rid er in hist ory to have eve r won an AMA ational MX C hampionshi p title o n a fo u r -stroke motorcycle, ha vin g won this series on . the much-talk ed -about Yamaha YZ400F. Suzuki 's Greg A lbe rty n wa s the d ay' s runner-up at Bingh amton with a 3-3 sco re, while teamma te Larrv Ward was third wi th a 7-1 tally . Factory Conn ecti on /Ja ck in th e Box Hond a rider Mike laRocco pla ced fou rt h wit h a 5-2 . sco re, w h ile Suz u ki's Mickael Pich on was fifth wi th a 2-5 tally. Hen ry' s fourth win of the series pu ts him in a tie with the absent Jeff Emig for most 250cc Na tional win s this year, but th at ' s jus t a secon da ry hon or to h is clinchi ng of the title. Hen ry is 63 points ahead of Albertyn (446 to 383) with jus t tw o m ot os left to b e ru n . Al ber tyn's Suzu ki teammate Pichon is third at this point w it h 355 points, tw o more th a n Emig's stagna nt tot al. La Rocco is .n~x t Doug Henry can now add a 250cc National title to his list of accomplishments. He clinched the champ ionsh ip at Binghamton with a 1-4, becom ing the first rider to win a National MX title on a four-stroke. w ith 352 poin ts, followed by th e sidelined Ezra Lusk (329). By just a bou t eve ry accoun t, th e Broome-Tioga track was in its best cond ition eve r. Track boss To m Hurd and his crew slightly revam ped the layo u t to make it faste r and to make passing easi er, as we ll as smoothing ou t so me of the spectacular d oubl e and triple jumps that ma ke Broome-Tioga on e of th e m ost dyn am ic courses on the National circuit. Mor e than 12,000 peop le cro wded int o th e pa rk , w hich a ls o fea tu r ed m ore bleacher s and ge nera l specta ting areas , plus tiered parking are as on the back side of the lot. As for the track itself, a few scatt ere d rain s ho we rs lat e in th e week left the trac k in su perb condition on a bright and sunny race d ay. The soo n-to-be-c rowned Henry was one of the many rid ers sing ing the pr aises of the Broom e-Tioga track. Henry eru p te d from the advantageous far -inside starting position, cu tting sharply into th e first turn on the inside of the ever-improving Takeshi Koekida of the Holley Racing /Bridgestone/ Ara i /O'Neal /Yamaha Japan exchange program. Pichon, Tecate / Kawasaki of Me xico's Phil La w rence, Al bertyn, Pro Action priva teer Jason Tho mas, and BSY Yamaha four-s tro ke pilot Doug Dubach filled in the immedia te chase group, though Du bach's day wo uld end early with a violent crash on one of the rough Binghamton uphills. Fu r th e r back , Ward a nd Hughes were h o v er in g in the t o p 10, '-'h il e LaR occo had a terribl e s ta rt and was moving forward fro m ab out 25th . On his way to the top 10, LaRocco tangled with A-Rid e / Smith / A xo /N-Sty lebacked Rich Taylor , the result of wh ich W i\S a mote-ending crash for Taylor. Pi ch on seemed to have the hottest lines aro und the track, and he forced his way past Henry on the uphill triple after the finish line after three laps. It seemed like he was on the verge of checking out as he opened an immed iate gap of five seconds on Hen ry. Hughes was also on the move, and the Kaw asak i rid er moved past Albertvn and Lawrence for the number-th ree spot. But befor e Hu gh es could go after Henry, he ran off the track righ t before the finish line and gave his sp ot back to Albertyn . "I was riding reall y tight the first few la ps , a nd Ryno was riding a bit fas ter than me, bu t once he passed me, I was able to chec k ou t his lines and see where he was goi ng," said Albertyn later. "H e had so me good lin es, so once I se ttled down, I just let my Suzuki do the work for me. I was able to pa ss him back." Pichon ' s ru naway never ma terializ ed, as H en r y s u d de n ly found h is rhythm aga in a nd tor e in to Pichon ' s lead. As the cheering crow d carried him to the front, Hen ry wasted little time in dispat ch in g th e fad in g Pichon for th e ! lead. Th en Hen ry rod e away with the moto w in well in hand. "11 was a good ride, and I had a good s ta rt, even though so me thi ng stra ng e happened d o wn t he re on th e gate," explained Hen ry. "Someone dropped a water bo ttle down on the concrete starling pad just befor e th e ga te dropped and it got all over the place. It was coming down tow ards my spo t, closer and closer, bu t th en it s to pped before the ga te dropped, and I was able to start a lot stronger than those guys." 11 was later discovered tha t Pichon's fa th er h ad acci d en ta lly dropped his so n's wat er bottle, causi ng a bit of the upro ar lat er in th e Suz u ki pits, but it was resolved befor e the seco nd moto, and Pichon ' s father wa s nowher e near the starting ga te for the beginning of the second moto, "This track is so mu ch fu n," continu ed H enry , who is a lso ba ck ed b y Bridgestone, Scott , Fox and Bent Clothing. 'There's a bunch of lines ou t there that you can take. and the jumps an d ev ery th ing are rea lly fun . I s pen t th e fir st half o f th e mota ju st. checki ng things ou t and trying to figure out some lin es a n d rid e m y o wn ra ce . It jus t wo rked out in the end ." "I tried p retty hard at the beginning; but my shou lder and my wrist are still

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